Shredder
Shredder was a competitor robot that fought in Series 5-7 of Robot Wars. While failing to progress beyond the first round in Series 5 and 7 - the former after accidentally driving itself into the pit against MouseTrap - it reached the Heat Final in Series 6, losing to S3 there. As Shredder Evolution, it also won the Battle of the Spinners that took place as part of Series 7. Team Shredder also competed in Series 3 with Manic Mutant, which lost its only battle. Versions of Shredder Shredder Shredder was an invertible, two-wheel drive robot featuring twin 10kg counter-rotating mild steel discs as its main weapons. The discs initially spun inwards at up to 2500rpm, with the intention of snaring robots' parts and pulling them towards the discs for more damage. They had different cutting heights, and were were capable of slicing through 4mm mild steel and car doors during testing, as well as providing the robot with better manoeuvrability due to the lower mass of each disc. Shredder also had a top speed of 10mph (increased to 12mph in Series 6), and was regularly described by Jonathan Pearce as looking like a 'tape machine'. While proved relatively durable and aggressive, the robot suffered from exposed tyres, a 2cm ground clearance and was quite flammable, while its discs were vulnerable to being damaged or torn completely off, as demonstrated during its first round battle against S3 in Series 6. Shredder had relatively minor changes between its appearances in Series 5 and Series 6, the most notable differences being a switch from a plain purple paint scheme to a purple and white one, and slightly different side armour protecting its wheels. Shredder Evolution For Series 7, a new version of Shredder, called Shredder Evolution, was built. It featured a slightly more compact chassis than the original robot, and a pair of more durable and effective discs which now rotated at 1500rpm. Its top speed was also increased to 25mph, and the robot adopted a new black, red and white paint scheme. Jonathan Pearce described Shredder Evolution as being 'built like a brick', although its wheels were now significantly more exposed due to the smaller wheel-guards forming part of its revised chassis. Robot History Series 5 Shredder first appeared in Heat C of the Fifth Wars, and fought the twentieth seed MouseTrap in the first round. It immediately approached MouseTrap and was whacked by its trap mechanism, before using its discs to slam into and leave gashes in MouseTrap's side. Both robots drove away before MouseTrap drove under Shredder, but Shredder escaped as it swung its weapon and continued grinding away at its side. It chased MouseTrap and slammed it into the pit release button, only to back itself into the pit just as it was descending. Despite its more dominant performance, this mistake eliminated Shredder from the Fifth Wars. Series 6 Shredder came back for Series 6 facing Armadrillo, Roobarb and the seventh seed S3 in the first round of Heat D. Shredder started at a disadvantage, for immediately after driving into S3's vertical spinner, one of Shredder's discs was ripped away and thrown out of the arena. Shredder still continued to focus on S3 while Roobarb broke down, and the lack of mobility from Armadrillo provided little distraction. Despite taking further damage from the vertical disc, Shredder pushed S3 into the arena wall, damaging the plexiglass. Shredder drove into S3's weapon again, but cleverly drove into the unarmed areas of S3 to attempt a push. Shredder pushed S3 towards Mr. Psycho, drove past the passive Armadrillo, and held S3 against another arena wall, where Mr. Psycho repeatedly hammered it. Shredder showed no fear of S3's weapon, and continually held it in the CPZ, also pushing it into another now-broken arena wall. Shredder relentlessly held S3 in Mr. Psycho's path, while Armadrillo was almost counted out. In the closing seconds, Shredder pushed Armadrillo into the same CPZ, and collided with S3 before 'cease' was called. The battle was sent to a Judges' decision, but Shredder comfortably qualified alongside the seeded S3 over the passive Armadrillo. This put Shredder through to a second-round match against another vertical spinner, The Alien. The team were jokingly confident about this matchup. Shredder entered the battle inverted to protect its discs from the spinning hammer of The Alien. Shredder allowed The Alien to spin up its weapon, and sustained damage from a head-on collision, also being held over the flame pit. After another contact, The Alien lost the use of its spinning hammer, and Shredder rammed into it. Shredder attacked with another ram, but drove up the wedge of The Alien, and was pushed back onto the flame pit. Driving over the steam vent, a gush of CO2 tore part of Shredder's wheel guard away. Shredder was pushed onto another steam vent by The Alien, although the latter drove itself into a CPZ and was attacked by Shunt. Shredder attempted to capitalise, but drove up the wedge of The Alien, and was pushed back into the centre of the arena, and then back onto the flame pit, and the closed pit. The Alien separated in order to activate the pit, but was slammed into the wall by Shredder. Despite its efforts, Shredder was pushed back into a CPZ by the wedge of The Alien, trapped by The Alien's self-righting mechanism. Shunt then buried its axe through Shredder, pushing it into the wall. Despite sustaining damage, Shredder did not give up, and chased The Alien onto the floor flipper, later pinning it over the steam vent which caused Shredder earlier damage. Shredder started to gain points in aggression and control, following the slowly moving The Alien around the arena and pushing it back into Shunt for an axe blow. While trying to hold The Alien in the CPZ, Shredder was also dented by Shunt, but The Alien could only narrowly escape the CPZ as it was attacked again by Shunt and slammed by Shredder just before 'cease' was called. After an extremely close battle, the win was awarded to Shredder, to the team's surprise, and The Alien's disagreement. Having qualified for the Heat Final, Shredder earned a second encounter with S3. The team crossed out the Shredder name on their robot, replacing it with the word "shredded". Shredder's driving in the opening stages allowed it to hit S3's weapon casing side-on, but a big hit from S3 flung it away, bending its own weapon frame. Shredder pushed S3 back into the wall, and activated the Disc of Doom, but then became caught on the floor spinner itself. This allowed S3 to directly hit Shredder's wheel, and Shredder then drove straight into S3's disc. Its weaponry was further buckled, and after consecutive blows, Shredder's wheels struggled to gain purchase on the arena floor. Shredder attempted to maintain aggression, pushing back then spinning in circles, but S3 turned Shredder over. As its frame was so badly bent, Shredder's tyres did not touch the floor, and the robot was rendered immobile. Shredder was counted out by Refbot, and was officially eliminated from the competition, yet a push from Sir Killalot brought Shredder's wheels back into contact with the arena floor, and Shredder fled, but was held aloft by the House Robot. While Sir Killalot drove onto the pit, Shredder continued the fight, and drove straight into the disc of the victorious S3. As Shunt pursued Shredder, the team chose to drive their own robot into the pit for the second time in Robot Wars, thus evading further punishment. It was revealed after the battle that part of Shredder's armour was stuck in the ceiling. Team Shredder maintained their humorous disposition in defeat. Series 7 Shredder Evolution returned for the Seventh Wars, competing in Heat I. It was drawn against newcomers to the main competition Trax and Sub-Version 1.1, alongside seasoned Robot Wars veteran Steel Avenger, in its first round battle. Shredder Evolution started tentatively, spinning around on the Drop Zone square before slamming into the side of Sub-Version 1.1 and being rammed along with it by Steel Avenger. It escaped from the empty CPZ, darting across the arena to one of the entry gates, before confronting Trax and Sub-Version 1.1 again and slicing through the latter's side. Steel Avenger rammed both robots out of the way, before axing Shredder Evolution and getting its axe head embedded in the space between Shredder Evolution's left wheel and chassis, pushing it over the Flame Pit in its grip. One of Shredder Evolution's discs caught and flung a piece of cloth across the arena, before Steel Avenger raised its axe and left it spinning on one side, the axe blow having damaged the aerial hidden in Shredder Evolution's wheel. Shredder Evolution ripped more of Sub-Version 1.1's front and side armour off with its discs, before Steel Avenger axed and spun it round as Trax pushed Sub-Version 1.1 into the pit just as 'cease' was called. Due to the damage it sustained from Steel Avenger, Shredder Evolution was eliminated from the Seventh Wars on the subsequent judges' decision, to the disagreement of Craig Charles. Shredder Evolution also competed in the Battle of the Spinners (also known as Spin City), against Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit and Infernal Contraption, aired as part of Heat C, prior to its appearance in the main competition. Shredder Evolution attacked Infernal Contraption, sending it flying into the arena wall, before exchanging blows with Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit. Shredder Evolution hit the pit release button, and met the other two competing robots in a CPZ. Mr. Psycho came out to attack Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit, and Barber-Ous 2'n a Bit was pushed into the pit whilst trying to escape the House Robot. Shredder Evolution's attacks on Infernal Contraption had taken their toll - it now had impaired mobility since one of its wheels had been damaged. It wasn't long before Infernal Contraption was counted out and pitted by Mr. Psycho, leaving Shredder Evolution victorious in the Battle of the Spinners. Results |} |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 3 *Losses: 3 Series Record Shredder_Series5pits.png|Shredder backstage in the pits at Series 5 Team Shredder.jpg|Team Shredder at Series 6 Team shredder s6.jpg|Team Shredder in an official photoshoot Team Shredder S6.png|Official team photo in Series 6 Shredder evo insides.JPG|The insides of Shredder Evolution Outside Robot Wars A black, weaponless Shredder also entered in Techno Games under the name Shred. Shred competed in the Assault Course, but lost in the first round to Technomoth. Team captain Paul Hunt described the colour scheme as making the robot "hard to see". A successor to Shredder Evolution, Shredder REVolutionS was also planned, which would have featured four spinning discs instead of two. Team Shredder had been working towards building Shredder REVolutionS for four years prior to Series 7, but it is currently unknown whether it was finished, and it never made an appearance at a live event. Trivia *Shredder once attended a live event, where it was responsible for a "No Spinning Weapons Rule" at the event, after it attacked Judge Mech and shards of armour went flying. The event organisers were asked for this rule by Team Tornado. The Shredder team were later very active in the improvement of live event safety, contributing heavily to both the writing of FRA arena guidelines and build rules. They also ran their own series of successful full combat events under the heading of Robot Crusade. *The image of Shredder on its statistics board in Series 5 was incorrectly cropped, showing only the middle of the robot, cutting off part of each side. *When introducing Shredder in Series 6, Jonathan Pearce incorrectly claimed "This has beaten good machines like Mousetrap in the past." Not only did Shredder lose to Mousetrap, but at that point the machine and the team had yet to win a battle. Jonathan Pearce later corrected himself, mentioning how Mousetrap beat Shredder in Series 5 whilst commentating on the Round 2 match, and the clip of Shredder driving into the pit was shown during Shredder's post-battle interview. References Category:UK Series competitors Category:Single Battle Event Winners Category:Robots from Warwickshire Category:Robots whose final appearance was a win Category:Robots with Horizontal Flywheels Category:Robots which have driven into the Pit Category:Invertible Robots Category:Competitors in Techno Games Category:Robots to appear in Battle Cards Pack 4 Category:UK Heat Finalists Category:Robots with alternate versions Category:Robots with an equal amount of Wins and Losses Category:Robots which debuted in Series 5